R
Conservative *
fft
, lu his homo re
turn speech at Lin
coln the other day the peerless sou of
toil , the incessant and constant con
tractor and expander of the muscles
which move the cover of his conserved
wisdom , Ool. Bryan , said :
"I want to warn those who toil that
whenever in this country we begin to
neglect the principles of self-govern
ment , the poor will be the first to suffer. "
And as no one objected , Ool. Bryan
uttered his "warn" and everybody pre
sent who knew how nearly to perpetual
motion Ool. Bryan had , for ten or twelve
years , been working his mouth as a
mint , making candidature into coin ,
felt that they would never for a moment
again "neglect the principles of self-
government. " The colonel did not an
alyze these principles nor explain them.
He merely talked. However , "the
poor , " for whom the colonel always has
many words and a deluge of tears , will
begin at once not to "neglect the principles
of . "
ciples self-government.
° ° L
NEVER.
olared to Oato Sells
and Oato declared to the Kansas Oity
convention that unless the doctrine of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver
at 10 to 1 was accepted , ratified , re
affirmed , and re-consecrated , that he ,
the Colonel , would not run for the presi
dency. Upon that declaration the con
vention , two-thirds of which had been
instructed for the peerless , said in a sil
ver resolution , that which Bryan de
manded it should say that without
which ho would not and could not accept
candidature. After that the peerless
Bryan declared silver a secondary and
imperialism a paramount issue.
He did not decline to run for the presi
dency if imperialism , was not made an
issue.
He did decline if silver was not made
an issue. And now ho declares imperial
ism a bigger question than the silver
question without which he declined
candidature.
NAMES.
Harper's Weekly is exploiting a new
word , by which it is sought to designate
the species of obsession concerning the
person of W. J. Bryan , which prevails
among certain of our fellow-citizens.
"Bryanitis" is the word , and it is mod
eled after a class of names which the
doctors apply to inflammations of vari
ous sorts.
THE CONSERVATIVE , however , does
not consider it so good a word as Bryan
archy. For , as gastritis is inflammation
of the stomach , so Bryauitis should be
inflammation of the Bryan ; aud while
Mr. Bryan may well be infected with
something of the septicomic order ,
as he insists on bearing a four-year
old corpse about with him , we doubt if
it is this condition to which Harper's
Weekly alludes. Its editors havjj in
mind rather the disordered intellects of
Mr. Bryan's adherents.
This is better described as Bryanarohy ,
which is furthermore strictly accurate
from the etymological point of view ,
since Mr. Bryan is distinctly the arches or
bead man , of all who follow his banner ;
omitting ( as indecorous and inappro
priate ) the secondary meaning of the
word arches , we find him their mon
arch , who must ope his mouth before a
dog of them dare bark ; the architect of
their platform , their patriarch , their
archangel. "Bryanarohy" , therefore ,
very well describes their condition , and
it has the further advantage of contain
ing the word anarchy , thus giving a
timely reminder of the state to which
unlimited application of Mr. Bryan's
notions of finance and government
would-reduce our commonwealth.
THE CONSERVATIVE will , therefore ,
adhere to "Bryanarohy" in preference
to "Bryanitis. "
"Archos" means the backside , or fun
damental , and the Bee's picture of far
mer Bryan is therefore , an excellent or-
iflamine for the Bryanarohists in their
campaign.
TWO LEADERS.
Many democrats must look back long
ingly to the old Cleveland days. Be
tween 1884 and 1892 the drift was
strongly to the democratic party. The
intelligent and conservative people of
the country had the utmost confidence
in Mr. Cleveland , and in the party that
was wise enough to accept his leader
ship. His championship of civil service
reform , tariff reform and sound money
drew to him thousands of men from the
republican party who felt that their
party was becoming more and more the
party of privilege. Young men from
the colleges were glad to enroll them
selves in the party led by Mr. Cleveland.
During the years of the Cleveland
leadership many republican states were
carried by the democrats. In Massa
chusetts , William E. Russell was three
times elected governor , and even when
the republicans carried the state it was
by greatly reduced pluralities. And it
seemed as though it would be possible
to strengthen the democrat party to
such an extent that it might even be
come dominant in that state. In Ohio
the republican plurality for Mr. Harri
son in 1892 was only 1,072 one electoral
vote , indeed , going to Mr. Cleveland.
Iowa elected a democratic governor , Mr.
Boies , in 1891 , aud in 1892 the republi
can plurality for the electoral ticket
was only 28,428. It was 65,552 in 1890.
Illinois went democratic in 1890 and
1892. In Michigan the republican plu
ralities were small for that state dur
ing the Cleveland era , that for Mr.
Elaine being only 8,808. Wisconsin was
carried by the democrats in 1890 and
1892. In Indiana Mr. Cleveland was
successful in 1884 and 1892 , while in
1888 Mr. Harrison's plurality was only
2,848.
But a change came after Mr. Clove-
laud's second term. The free silver
theory took possession of the democratic
party. Instead of standiug by the man
who had led it BO well , it took up with
the populists and cheap money people.
When it did that the tide in its direction
was not merely arrested , but turned the
other way. New England again became
solidly republican. Massachusetts gave
Mr. MoKiuley a plurality of 178,205.
The republican pluralities in Ohio have
been tremendous. Iowa has become
stronger in the republican faith than
ever. It gave McKinley a plurality of
05,552 as against 19,778 for Blaiue , and
28,428 for Harrison. In Illinois there
have been , since 1892 , throe republican
pluralities of more than 100,000 , that for
McKiuley being 142,498. Since 1894
there has been no republican plurality
in Michigan less than 50,000 ; McKinley
carried the state by 50,808 , while Wis
consin gave him a plurality of 102,012.
Indiana has never been so solidly repub
lican as during the predominance of
Bryanism. The republican pluralities
of 1894,1890 and 1898 were , respectively ,
44,078 , 18,181 and 17,518.
More than this , the republicans have
made inroads in the south. They car
ried Delaware and Maryland in 1890 ,
and got twelve out of thirteen electoral
votes in Kentucky. Cleveland's plu
rality of 50,715 in Virginia iu 1893
shrank to 19,841 for Biyan in 1890.
West Virginia , which had not been car
ried by the republicans since 1872 , has
been carried at every election since 1892 ,
giving McKinley a plurality of 11,487.
Almost more important than this inva
sion of the south by the republicans , is.
their capture of the ever-faithful Now
Jersey. The republicans carried it in
1872 , but this was the last time up to
1896 , when it gave the republicans a
plurality of 87,092. It seems to us that
the lesson is plain. The democrats have
simply affronted the intelligence and
conservatism of the country , and they
have done this by abandoning their old
principles. It is the fashion to speak of
Mr. Bryan as "the peerless leader. " He
has been peerless iu leading the demo
cratic party to defeat and ruin. We do
not believe that it will recover its
strength till it repudiates him and his
doctrines. We know what has hap
pened in the past. We know that the
majority of people have shown that they
had no sympathy with Bryauism. And
the contrast between the Cleveland in
fluence and the Bryan influence cer
tainly seems to show that , at least from
a party point of view , the former was
wholly beneficial , while the latter is
entirely pernicious. Indianapolis News.
